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A Shake-up of Permitted Development Rights

During the Autumn Budget, it was announced that the Government would be consulting on a number of proposed changes to the current system of permitted development rights.

Permitted development rights allow you to undertake certain building works and changes of use without needing to apply for planning permission. The changes being proposed by the Government include:

Additional categories of permitted changes of use such as permitting hot food takeaways to be changed to residential use;

introducing a new permitted development right allowing upwards extensions of commercial and residential properties in certain areas to create new homes; and

introducing a new permitted development right to allow the demolition of commercial buildings to be redeveloped as residential properties.

The aim of these proposals is to help revitalise high streets and deliver more homes to alleviate the housing crisis. However, concerns have been raised that these proposals could speed up the death of the high street and introduce the development of poor quality housing.

You can have your say on the proposed changes by responding to the consultation which can be found here.

The deadline for response is 14 January 2019.

If you require any planning advice then please contact our experienced team of planning lawyers on 01392 207020.